166 sats \ 10 replies \ @DarthCoin 11 Sep \ on: Electrum Server Benefits? bitcoin
Is not at all a dumb question. Dumb questions are only about shitcoins or related :)
Electrum makes a faster reading of blocks for an onchain wallet app. Because is indexing the blocks and create his own db from where is delivering the data. But this come with a catch: any electrum server will read your xpub when you connect to it. That's why many are running their own electrum server or connect through Tor for more privacy.
Yes, Electrum server is taking a lot of resources and it is a main reason why so many RPi nodes are struggling to survive. But users are quite clueless...
But you are right, if you run your own bitcoind and you have a fast node and connection, connecting a Sparrow wallet app directly to your bitcoin node, is the same as using an electrum server.
With Sparrow you are quite well covered for all the onchain operations.
Wallets do not send the xpub directly to the Electrum server. Instead, they derive the addresses (--> script hashes) from the xpub and then request the balance for each individual address.
reply
Wallets do not send the xpub directly to the Electrum server.
Correct, my mistake, I didn't explain it exactly, just trying to make the connection by saying "it sends the xpub".
Here are more technical details:
https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/faq.html#does-electrum-trust-servers
reply
That's what I've heard too.
Electrum (client) doesn't leak your xpub to the Electrum server it connects to, and I'd assume neither does Sparrow.
reply
I found this to be helpful: https://sparrowwallet.com/docs/best-practices.html
reply
reply
I think OP is asking about his own local node not a random remote node.
Or you are not trusting yourself?
reply
OP didn't say if it was a local or remote setup.
If it's a local setup, your wallet can only be operational while staying within the LAN. Some people might be fine with not having your wallet accessible on-the-go. Most users will probably find that too limiting, though.
Thanks for this explanation. Exactly what I was looking for. In fact, I am using sparrow wallet on my Start9 node. I did read there could be a security issue related to directly connecting to bitcoin core, but it seemed hypothetical, ie, if there was a bug in core.
reply